Sunday, September 23, 2007

Submitting is like Dating....

Last night was movie night in our household. I threw up the suggestion of Premonition with Sandra Bullock. Now, in retrospect, there were several plot holes that one could drive a truck through...but, while the movie was playing, it was lots of fun to put together the clues and try to guess the ending.

Which really doesn't have much to do with what I am going to blog about except tangentially.

Now that we have small children again, Movie night has replaced our weekly date night. I have to say, I like dating as part of a married couple. We always have fun and most times, at the end of the date, we get lucky (snicker)...

This is unlike dating as a single person.

There's the first meeting -- (true story, I was actually stood up for dinner at Red Lobster once...I figure the guy took one look and ran...however, I had a wonderful time flirting with the waiter instead)

There's the actual date -- was it something fun or....? ('nother true story, I once went to a movie on a first date. I wanted to see Titanic, he wanted to see the Blues Brothers...not that I have anything against Dan Ackroyd, but on a first date???)

The parting -- do you just wave? shake his hand? stand there with your lips puckered and hope his kisses you? or drag him inside and have your way with him?

Then comes the worst part -- THE WAIT.

"I'll call you"...were they famous last words? An assurance your phone will ring and he'll call to chat or schedule another date? Or do you call him?

Oh, you try to keep yourself busy...but you still find yourself circling the phone, turning the ringer up when you take a shower, checking your empty voicemail six or seven (or one hundred) times a day. Only time will tell...

You've done the research and found a publisher that you like. It's attractive, friendly, and other people have only good things to say about it. So...you submit your manuscript. You get an autoreply...thanks for the submission, we'll get back to you as soon as we can.

Then comes the worst part -- THE WAIT.

In the meanwhile, I'm keeping myself busy -- I'm writing the next novella and spending time with my family.

But still, submitting is like dating and I've got to go check my e-mail...again...